Who are Kamboj?

Kamboj (Punjabi: ਕਮ੍ਬੋਜ, Hindi: कम्बोज, Urdu: کمبوہ ) is frequently used as surname or last name by many Kambojs, currently living in India. Their Muslim counter-parts living in Pakistan mostly use Kamboh instead. The Kambojs/Kambohs are the modern reprentatives of ancient Kambojas, a well known Kshatriya tribe of Indo-Aryans, stated to have had both Indian as well as Iranian affinities is frequently used as surname or last name by many Kambojs, currently living in India. Their Muslim counter-parts living in Pakistan mostly use Kamboh instead. The Kambojs/Kambohs are the modern reprentatives of ancient Kambojas, a well known Kshatriya tribe of Indo-Aryans, stated to have had both Indian as well as Iranian affinities [1].

Chudakarma Samskaara of Paraskara Grhya-Sutram[2], Vamsa Brahmana[3] of the of the Sama Veda, the epic Ramayana as well as Mahabharata and some other ancient references attest that a section of the Kambojas also practiced Brahmanism. See : Brahmanism of Ancient Kambojas .

Overlap with Kshatriya and Brahmin clan names

The modern Kamboj are said to be divided into two divisions of 52 and 84 clans names (the actual number is however somewhat higher than these figures). Dr J. L. Kamboj observes that more than 15 of the Kamboj clan names overlap with that of the Brahmins and over 80 overlap with other Kshatriya and Rajput clans of northern India. But according to S Kirpal Singh, the respective figures are over 25 overlaping with Brahmins and over 100 overlaping with other Kshatriyas and Rajputs. [4] In his well known book Glossary of Tribes and Castes of Punjab and North-west Frontier Province[5], British ethnographer and ethnologist, H. A. Rose, had also observed in early 20th century that there is seen an overlap of the Kamboj clan names with that of the Brahmins and other Kshatriyas. Rose also admitted that the reason of this overlap was not clear to him [6]. But, today with all the information provided in the articles in Wikipedia about the Kambojas, it would seem clear as to why there is such an overlap.